Only Comedians Can Take Down Tucker Carlson
John Oliver delivers the goods against America's most dangerous White Nationalist.
by Ben Cohen
As much as I know going after Tucker Carlson plays right into his pink, sweaty hands, I continue to do so because I have long believed he is the most dangerous man in the country.
Carlson’s insidious form of White Nationalism, his appalling race baiting, and his serpentine understanding of America’s racial power dynamics is a huge ratings hit at Fox News. In fact, Carlson has had one of the highest rated program in the country for several years running.
The ability to reach millions of people on a nightly basis also means Carlson is in an extremely unique position to influence politics. Donald Trump was acutely aware that Carlson had a direct line to his more well-heeled supporters, and reportedly tuned into his show every day and would call regularly for advice. Trump could rile up the mob, but with Carlson’s intellectual acumen, he could make crass White Nationalism far more palatable to the average conservative.
The relationship was entirely successful — Trump could act as he pleased, then Carlson would convince his audience that it was all quite normal. It was the Democrats who were the extremists, and Carlson went to fantastical lengths to prove it.
Filling the void
Trump has gone, but the political movement he inspired is still going strong. Without his Twitter account and the presidential bully pulpit, Trump’s influence over conservatives is in real decline. But Tucker Carlson is now rising to fill the void and has been busy marshaling the forces of White Nationalism for his own nefarious purposes.
With Joe Biden as president and an increasingly confident Democratic Party, Carlson is now pouring gasoline on the ongoing culture war in the hopes of burning it all to the ground. Having spent years cultivating his audience of paranoid, angry white men, Carlson sees an opportunity to create new extremes racist delusion and grievance by fomenting a war on minorities, women, vaccines, and the Bidens.
In recent weeks, Carlson has mocked Jill Biden’s relationship with her husband, mocked pregnant women in the military, promoted thinly veiled vaccine conspiracies, claimed Joe Biden is a tyrant, and attacked a black female rapper. Carlson’s petty cultural grievances and faux outrage are so absurd that even he knows no one outside of the conservative bubble will take them seriously. But that of course is the point: Carlson does not respect his audience in the slightest, but they give him enormous power in post-Trump America so he gives them exactly what they want.
How to take down a White Nationalist
In Mark Twain’s ‘The Mysterious Stranger’, he wrote that, “power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution-these can lift a colossal humbug, push it a little, weaken it a little; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
Serious critiques of Carlson from media pundits certainly have their place, but to effectively counter his nauseating racism and barely concealed White Nationalism, comedians must play a major role. Carlson thrives off of “establishment” media commentators going after him — in fact, he relishes their criticism. Because what better way to show your credentials as a regular “everyman” than to have the establishment media go after you?
However, Carlson has not fared so well when comedians have attacked him.
Carlson has been pilloried by many of America’s greatest comedians, notably Jon Stewart, who was so successful in exposing Carlson’s dickishness back in 2004 that his show was canceled by CNN.
During the exchange with Stewart on ‘Cross Fire’ it became incredibly clear that Carlson was a fish out of water and had no effective way of combating Stewart’s mockery. At one point, Stewart said to Carlson, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show."
Carlson has transformed into something far more insidious over the past few years, and comedians have their work cut out if they want to help get him off Fox News. The network has stood by his grotesque race baiting despite thousands of complaints and painful advertiser boycotts.
Enter John Oliver
Last weekend, HBO’s John Oliver provided perhaps the best blueprint to help take Tucker Carlson down. In a blisteringly funny 25 minute segment, Oliver tore through every aspect of Carlson’s life and career, exposing him for being a opportunistic grifter who has used racism for the purpose of benefiting his career.
Perhaps most importantly, Oliver gave a definitive breakdown of why Tucker Carlson absolutely is a White Supremacist. Oliver pointed out that Carlson’s diatribes are consistently parroted by white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan members, and that while he may not admit to holding White Supremacist beliefs, his rhetoric proves he does.
“That’s the whole thing with Tucker — he may not say Black or white — he’ll insist that he’s for colorblindness,” said Oliver. “He’ll build in deniability by phrasing things as a question, like, “What does racism look like?” while kind of embodying the answer. But when you look at this all put together, the pattern is clear: He is scared of a country that looks nothing like the one he grew up in… When Tucker asks, “What is white supremacy?”, the answer is: Basically, that. It’s a belief that in a country where white people are dominant, that’s all down to their natural and innate abilities and any effort to change that is an affront to the natural order of things.” The segment is absolutely worth watching in full:
Tucker Carlson has not responded to Oliver’s evisceration, either on his show or from social media. When prominent non-comedians go after Carlson, he enjoys hitting back with great gusto. When a comedian goes after him though, he intuitively understands it is a fight he cannot win. Carlson is a clever, immensely privileged bully with a talent for rhetoric. But he is not a funny man, and he knows it.
Given Carlson has been silenced by comedians before, it stands to reason he can be silenced by them again. The retired Jon Stewart appears to be aware of this, recently taking to Twitter with a rare callout of his former nemesis:
Comedians out there listening: we need you. More than ever.
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